CRITICAL SITUATION: 'Malaysians must be prepared to pay more to manage solid waste' KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIANS produced 33,000

tonnes of solid waste daily last year, exceeding the projected production of 30,000 tonnes by 2020. Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the figure was alarming as 33,000 tonnes amounted to about 12 million tonnes per year. "This is a worrying trend. The public need to be civic-conscious when disposing of their rubbish and managing their waste. "Without help from the public, legislative measures on waste management will not make a difference," he said after officiating at the International Conference On Waste Management and Environment yesterday. Rahman said the ministry would increase awareness programmes on waste management to encourage the public to practise the 3Rs, or reuse, reduce and recycle. "This includes reducing solid waste and spending more to manage solid waste. "However, a study conducted by the ministry last year showed that the recycling rate in households has increased from five per cent in 2005 to 9.5 per cent, which is still low." He said Malaysians must be prepared to pay more to manage waste because it was an investment for the future. Any mismanagement in the solid waste process chain could lead to environmental pollution and health hazards, he said. "The government recognises that effective waste management is one of the prerequisites for the nation to achieve a developed-nation status." In the 10th Malaysia Plan, the government detailed measures to boost the efficiency of solid waste management, which will reduce greenhouse emissions, including building material-recovery facilities and thermal treatment plants, as well as recycling non-organic waste. "Our thermal treatment plant to be built in Kuala Lumpur will also generate electricity." Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently said the country was on track to meet its pledge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020. Najib had made the pledge at the 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark. He had said Malaysia was committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent of the country's gross domestic product by 2020, compared with the 2005 levels. Rahman said three large-scale incinerators would be built in Taman Beringin, Kuala Lumpur; Bukit Payung, Johor; and Sungai Udang, Malacca. "Each incinerator is worth between RM600 million and RM800 million and takes three years to build.

"The incinerators will be built via an international open tender, as we are interested in seeing what cutting-edge technology in waste management is available, especially those that have a minimal impact on the environment and can save cost." Rahman said incinerators would save landfill space as the country could not depend on landfills. It was reported that 95 to 97 per cent of all solid waste in the peninsula were disposed of in landfills, while three to five per cent were processed in recycling factories. The Department of National Solid Waste Management said each incinerator managed 1,000 tonnes of waste per day and reduced air pollution. Malaysia has smaller incinerators with the capacity of fewer than 100 tonnes each in Langkawi, Tioman, Lumut and Cameron Highlands. Rahman said five public universities had been named as research universities to conduct research on waste management and environmental issues. They are Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

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Email Print 22 March 2012| last updated at 08:15AM SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL: Incineration a better option

By S. Param, Ipoh, Perak

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IWELCOME the recent announcement by the government that it will invite international tenders to build a modern and safe incinerator to cater for the ever-increasing solid waste generated in Kuala Lumpur. It is about time the authorities considered building incinerators wherever practical. Contrary to what some people believe, sanitary landfills are not environment-friendly or hygienic. Landfills are well-known for leachate contamination of groundwater. News of major drinking water disruption due to dangerous levels of contamination of leachate from landfills is not uncommon. Landfills are said to be one of the major greenhouse gas (methane) generators because of the decaying organic matter. Methane is said to have the ability to trap 20 times more heat from the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Methane is e many times more potent than CO2. Methane gas can also pose serious health risks to the surrounding inhabitants. There are a host of other issues such as odour, vermin, noise pollution, etc, which have been attributed to landfills and open dumpsites. The very act of burying many hundreds of tonnes of solid waste underground is so ancient and a waste of landmass. The waste is going to stay mummified and intact for hundreds of years, posing a risk to our future generation. Due to the nature of its "contents", landfills will remain a problem during its operation and also after its closure for many years. It's time we gradually do away with this old-fashioned method of solid waste disposal and adopt the modern, high-tech and eco-friendly incinerators available in the market. State-of-the-art incinerators have come far enough to lessen pollution to a minimum and they are safe, cheap and easy to operate. The new-age sanitary incinerators are used in Europe, United States and Japan. These ultra modern incinerators are designed such that all harmful emissions can be removed through filters and scrubbers that recirculate the emissions back into the incinerator. Hazardous emissions can

be mitigated with modern air pollution control technologies and, more importantly, can generate energy to power our homes and industries. In Vienna, Austria, there is a solid waste incinerator plant at Spittelau, Fernwarme Wein, located in the city, burning away tonnes of solid waste 24/7 without any fuss or protest from the folks there. It must be pointed out that the open burning of garbage in our backyard is also contributing to the pollution of the environment. However, the modern state-of-the-art incinerators in the market are designed so that their emissions of poisonous gases can be detected in picograms (one trillionth of a gramme). A one-minute burning of garbage is actually polluting about one million times more yearly to the environment compared with a tightly restricted modern incinerator. As such, incinerators are good alternatives to open burning and the use of landfills. Although I welcome the building of incinerators to dispose of our garbage, it is important the authorities continue to give due considerations to genuine concerns raised by the public. It is understandable and expected of certain sections of the community who are not familiar with the modern day incinerators to view it as a threat to humans and the environment. The authorities should continue to engage the public to allay their fears and clear any misconceptions surrounding the building of incinerators

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SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL: Composting could be the answer

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IT must come as a shock to people who generate a lot of solid waste. Last year alone, we produced more than what we are expected to have produced by 2020. According to Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Malaysians produced 33,000 tonnes of solid waste a day last year, seven years earlier than the target of 30,000 tonnes set for 2020 ("Need to act on rubbish now" -- NST, Aug 27). Is this the result of our lifestyle? If so, we need to change. Solid-waste disposal and management lacks people's participation. We have not engaged them enough to solve the problem. Therefore, we have not been successful in inculcating the 3R (recycle, reuse and reduce) culture. One of the reasons is how we perceive solid waste. Many people think it is useless and should be discarded. That is why they throw rubbish indiscriminately. Outsourcing solid waste disposal to companies also makes people think that waste disposal is not their problem. People depend on these companies to cart away their rubbish. They would complain if, for some reason, waste-disposal lorries do not collect rubbish for a couple of days. As a result, people generate more solid waste without a thought as disposal is not their problem. Studies by the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry showed that 95 to 97 per cent of solid waste in the peninsula was disposed of in landfills. There are about 160 such sites. The sad fact is that only three to five per cent of the solid waste is processed in recycling plants. The composition of solid waste at landfill sites is 47 per cent organic material, 15 per cent paper, 14 per cent plastic, four per cent metal, three per cent glass and the rest textile, wood and rubber. The perception is that only papers, plastics, bottles, and aluminium are recyclable. This is the reason only three bins are created for the 3R campaigns. What about organic materials? Although these materials form a major portion of our solid waste, there are no designated bins for them. As a result, they are sent to landfills.

I believe much of the organic materials is produced by wholesalers (about 80 per cent is solid waste), retail wet markets (60 to 70 per cent), restaurants (about 90 per cent), supermarkets (about 50 per cent) and households (50 per cent). Are landfill sites the only solution for organic waste? What we need to do is to cut down on solid waste, especially organic waste, from being sent to landfills. To do so, we need to look at solid and organic waste as an asset. We need to do two things to solve our solid waste problem. FIRST, we must change our mindset about solid waste and solid waste management; and, SECOND, we need to engage the people to overcome the problem. In a paper presented at the National Conference on Higher Education Institutions and Community Engagement (Aug 26 and 27) at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan in Jeli, I suggested that we turn organic waste into compost. Composting is not a new idea. Compost can be used to improve soil and to replace chemical fertilisers. In some countries, compost is part of urban farming. We can reduce organic waste from being sent to landfill sites by carrying out composting at wholesale and retail wet markets using composting machines. Pilot projects are being carried out at several markets, such as the wet market in Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya. The end-product or compost is packed into small packets for sale. Millions of ringgit can be generated from the sale of compost fertilisers. Composting can be carried out by households and communities. As someone who takes up composting as a hobby, I must say it is a good exercise. Local universities, and there are 58 of them, can engage the communities in composting programmes. They can include local governments, resident associations and surau committees. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia conducts a zero-waste project involving the local community. In all, composting is one solution to the organic waste problem as it gives meaning to the 3R practice.

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Solid Waste In Malaysia What is Solid Waste?

Solid waste can be defined as the useless and unwanted products in the solid state derived from the activities of and discarded by society.

Just as children depend on their parents for shelter and sustainability, mankind depends on the environment to sustain their lives. The environment consists of every single living being on Earth, from the smallest microorganism to the giant whale that swims in the depths of the ocean.

Solid waste is one of the three major environmental problems in Malaysia. It plays a significant role in the ability of Nature to sustain life within its capacity. Currently, over 23,000 tonnes of waste is produced each day in Malaysia. However, this amount is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020. The amount of waste generated continues to increase due to the increasing population and development, and only less than 5% of the waste is being recycled.

Despite the massive amount and complexity of waste produced, the standards of waste management in Malaysia are still poor. These include outdated and poor documentation of waste generation rates and its composition, inefficient storage and collection systems, disposal of municipal wastes with toxic and hazardous waste, indiscriminate disposal or dumping of wastes and inefficient utilization of disposal site space.

Rivers represent the lease of life which pulses through the earth.It is a finite and only source of water. In Malaysia, there are almost 1800 rivers. Sadly, more than half of these rivers have been polluted and destroyed. Improper solid waste management contributes greatly to river pollution.

Improper solid waste management (SWM) also contributes to climate change decomposing waste produces methane and production of new products to meet demand emits greenhouse gases and utilizes natural resources.

Issues & Problems

Litter at the roadside, drains clogged up with rubbish and rivers filled with filthy garbage definitely indicate that solid waste is a major environmental problem in Malaysia. Rapid development, population increase and changes in consumption pattern directly (and indirectly) resulted in the generation of enormous amount of waste, ranging from biodegradable to synthetic waste.

As of the year of 2008, 23,000 tonnes of waste is produced each day in Malaysia, with less than 5% of the waste is being recycled. In Selangor alone, waste generated in 1997 was over 3000t/day and the amount of waste is expected to rise up to 5700t/day in the year 2017(Yachio Engineering, 2000 cited in Muhd Noor Muhd Yunus, 2000). An alarming 19% of waste ends up in our drains, which then causes flash floods and drainage blockage. This situation has been and will be reducing our environmental capacity to sustain life.

Despite the massive amount and complexity of waste produced, the standards of waste management in Malaysia are still poor. These include outdated documentation of waste generation rates and its composition, inefficient storage and collection systems, disposal of municipal wastes with toxic and hazardous waste, indiscriminate disposal or dumping of wastes and inefficient utilization of disposal site space.

Furthermore, the lack of awareness and knowledge among Malaysian community about solid waste management (SWM) issues, and being ignorant about the effect that improper SWM has to us has definitely worsened the problem.

Solid Waste & Climate Change

Did you know that by managing your solid wastes properly, you can make a difference in climate change?

Climate change is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). The manufacturing, distribution and use of products, including waste generation all result in emission of GHG that affect the Earths climate.

The Earths atmosphere contains many types of gases which includes GHG. GHG absorbs an retains heat from the Sun. They regulate the Earths climate by holding warmth in an atmospheric blanket around

the planets surface. Scientists call this phenomenon as the Greenhouse Effect. Without GHG, the average temperature on Earth would be -2 F, instead of the current 57F. However, certain human activities have released additional GHG, and this upsets the natural atmospheric balance of GHG. Therefore, there is a direct increase in global temperature.

Solid waste affects climate change through landfill methane emission. The source of manmade methane gas is from the landfills themselves, which happens when organic waste is left to decay anaerobically